Breaking News

Denver women's prison has highest rate of reported staff sex assaults

Dawn Amos, who has been in prison for more than 18 years, on Thursday talks about life at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

An estimated 10.7 percent of inmates at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility claim staff members sexually assaulted them or were guilty of sexual misconduct, according to a new national study.

It was the highest rate in the nation, according to the report by the U.S. Department of Justice, and four times the national average of 2.4 percent.

A total of 160 inmates participated in the study, about 68 percent of those incarcerated, and their responses were weighted to reflect the makeup of the entire jail population.

Roger Werholz, interim executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said in a statement that each allegation of sexual misconduct is thoroughly investigated, and employees have been, and will continue to be, held accountable.

"I will not tolerate staff sexual misconduct," he said. "While the department has taken a number of steps to enhance security and to do everything possible to ensure offender safety, we will analyze these findings for opportunities to make further improvements."

Werholz has assigned Director of Prisons Mark Flowers to review the findings of the report and determine what actions should be taken.

The study was conducted between February 2011 and May 2012 and was headed by U.S. Bureau of Statistics statistician Dr. Allen J. Beck.

Advertisement

The report singled out 12 prisons — eight male and four female, including the Denver Women's Correctional Facility — for a high
rate of reported sexual misconduct.

Among the Denver female inmates claiming sexual abuse, 7.3 percent said they had been physically coerced or threatened with physical force. Nationally, only 0.8 percent of inmates at other prisons and jails claimed physical coercion.

"That's 10 times higher than the national rate," Beck said of the Denver women's prison.

A sample of inmates from 225 prisons and 358 jails were asked personal questions before completing a touch-screen survey.

One of the questions asked, "During the last 12 months, have any facility staff offered you favors or special privileges in exchange for sex or sexual contact?"

Inmates also were asked whether they willingly had sex with a staff member or inmate and if they were physically forced to perform a sex act. It is illegal for staff to have sex with inmates.

Denver inmates were surveyed in September 2011, and Werholz said in his statement that the timing may have been a factor in the results.

In 2008, an inmate sued in federal court claiming she had been sexually assaulted by a corrections officer. The next year, she was awarded $1.3 million in the case. The officer, former Sgt. LeShawn Terrell was fired. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual contact and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Werholz said, in 2011, several inmates sued DOC in another sexual abuse lawsuit, but the case was dismissed.

Werholz said in his statement that another factor that came into play during that period was a new anti-contraband policy requiring more intrusive body searches. Inmates filed numerous grievances and the policy was changed.

Dawn Amos, 42, who is serving a 24-year robbery term, said during a Thursday interview at the Denver women's prison that in 2000 she filed a criminal complaint against a correctional officer who "used me" for sex at another Colorado prison.

Amos said many inmates are afraid to report sexual assaults because when they have in the past, staff have accused them of making false reports and they have been placed in administrative segregation.

"So none of us say nothing about nothing," Amos said. "I know one girl who was raped."

DOC has instigated a series of measures that it credits for a decrease in sexual assault claims at Denver Women's Correctional Facility to 19 in 2012 from 66 in 2008.

For example, 200 surveillance cameras have been installed in the prison.

Beck said that even if only half of the inmates involved in the survey are being truthful, that is still a very high rate of sexual misconduct.

"It's a red flag," he said. "At a minimum, it requires the administration to take a look."

The report also looked at inmate-on-inmate abuse. It said that 4 percent of state and federal inmates reported being sexually victimized in the past year. That is down from 4.5 percent in a survey conducted in 2007.

At Denver Women's Correctional Facility, 12.2 percent of women in the weighted survey said they were sexually abused by either staff or other inmates.

Two other Colorado prisons and seven jails were included in the study.

Only 1.2 percent of male inmates at the state-run Buena Vista Correctional Center claimed to have been sexually victimized. Among inmates at Skyline Correctional Center, also a state prison, 2.4 percent of inmates reported they had been sexually assaulted.

Denver County Jail had a 3.7 percent sexual victimization rate, the highest of the seven Colorado jails surveyed.

By comparison, no inmates at Jefferson County or Park County jails reported sexual assaults, according to the study.

were identified, including the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, as having high rates of staff sexual misconduct.

DENVER WOMEN'S CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

10.7%

of surveyed inmates said they were subjected to sexual misconduct from staff, the highest rate in the country of any facility.

OF THE INMATES SUBJECTED TO SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

7.3%

also reported they had been physically coerced or threatened with physical force.

In a national study, 10.7 percent of inmates at Denver Women's Correctional Facility claim that staff members sexually assaulted them or were guilty of sexual misconduct. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.